This Photo Sums It Up

For now, this is my favorite photo. It was taken after at least 3 minutes of this, and continued for a few minutes more. And after this darling little girl had a good look, she went and got her mom and then her sister and then kept coming back for several long stares.

Yes. This is what it feels like to live in China. Parents point us out to their children. Children point us out to their parents. Old people can't seem to get enough. Sometimes they do it openly and sometimes on the sly, and obviously it happens more than we see.

We are watched.

We are stared at.

We are photographed.

It is why keeping our light on is so important. I hope we reflect the light of Jesus Christ. I hope the people can feel my love for Him! It's all I can share for now.

(Greta did smile and acknowledged her, but the stare continued and continued and continued.....)

Comments

While We Are Waiting: Temples!

I love the temple. When I first learned of the possibility of us moving to China in December 2019, one of my first questions was "How can I leave the temple?" That question was answered in part during the closure of temples in 2020. However, when the joint venture was signed and Tom was officially offered the position in China in November 2020, I began fasting and praying that I would be able to attend the temple just once before we left. Our original flights were for July 7, 2021 and just a few weeks before that, our temple opened up and miraculously we were able to get 2 appointments for baptisms and 4 other appointments for Tom and I before our departure date. I can't express my deep gratitude for those 6 precious appointments. Then when we didn't obtain a visa in time for those flights and access to nearby temples was given, I took up a new hobby. Temple scheduling. The girls teased me it was a bit of an obsessed hobby; but since we will go ...

Medical Check Ups -- China Style

I knew our medical check up would be extraordinarily different from what I could ever imagine, and recognizing that, I thought I was prepared for anything. I was wrong. Very wrong. I could have never dreamed up what was. We had to drive 45 minutes to the medical center for foreigners. Yet we were the only foreigners. Stella explained that it was also for international travelers. For such limited traveling allowed, it was sure packed. Tom asked a couple of people where they were traveling to and they said they weren't traveling. So we don't know why there was such a crowd. In the back of my heart, I was slightly hoping that since it was for foreigners that it might feel less foreign. Wishful thinking. Note to self: don't ever ever hope for things to not be foreign. We first registered. It only took about 15 minutes. For us, that is lickety split. We got print outs with the work we needed done: "Blood taking, x-ray, urine s...

An Accomplishment!

The process: Cut the recipe in half so that the bread will fit in your teensy tinsy oven. Convert everything to metric--- ingredient amounts and water temperature. Get your purified water to the right temperature. Measure ingredients out. Mix it up. Humidity changes things.... Hope you did it right. Shape and let rise. Convert oven temperature to Celsius. My little oven heats up nicely, but you get to guess when it is preheated. Notice there are no smoke alarms in your kitchen. Hmm. Decrease the cook time and cross your fingers that is right. Add a cooking thermometer to the shopping list. Let it cool for a long time because you only have a small serrated knife for cutting it. Slice and eat. It probably could have tasted pretty awful and we would have thought that bit of home tasted very delightful! But it was quite good! Needs a little more salt, but that is an easy adjustment. And it could have been crustier, but we're at a point o...

This Great Work

Search This Blog